Sunil Arora appointed Election Commissioner

Former bureaucrat Sunil Arora on 31 August 2017 was appointed the Election Commissioner of India.

Arora’s appointment will be effective from the day he assumes charge.

After Nasim Zaidi retired as Chief Election Commissioner in July 2017, there was a vacancy in the Election Commission of India. While Achal Kumar Joti is the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the Om Prakash Rawat is the other Election Commissioner.

Before being appointed as the Election Commissioner, Arora had been the Information and Broadcasting Secretary, and Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

A 1980-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, Arora has worked in ministries such as Finance, Textiles and Planning Commission. He also served as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation during 1999-2002 and CMD, Indian Airlines for five years.

About Election Commission of India

• The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering election processes in India.

• The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, state Legislative Assemblies in India, and the offices of the President and Vice President in the country.

• The body operates under the authority of Constitution per Article 324, and subsequently enacted Representation of the People Act.

• The Commission has the powers under the Constitution, to act in an appropriate manner when the enacted laws make insufficient provisions to deal with a given situation in the conduct of an election.